Pakistan releases 5 accused of gang rape

by Alex Rodriguez - Apr. 22, 2011 12:00 AMLos Angeles Times

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -In a ruling seen as a setback for women's rights in Pakistan, the country's Supreme Court on Thursday freed five men accused of gang-raping a woman on the orders of a village council.

In 2002, local elders in the southern Punjab village of Meerwala decreed that Mukhtar Mai, 30 at the time, should be raped in retaliation for her 13-year-old brother's alleged relationship with a woman from a wealthier family.

Because of the severe social stigma associated with rape in Pakistan, many victims commit suicide or do not file complaints. Mai, however, went public with her case and won worldwide acclaim that helped illuminate the plight of women in the conservative Muslim nation, where conviction rates in cases of rape and domestic violence are disturbingly low.

Six of the 14 suspects charged in Mai's rape were convicted in 2002 and sentenced to death. The other eight were acquitted. In 2005, the Lahore High Court, a provincial appellate panel, acquitted five of the six convicted men and commuted the death sentence of the sixth man to life imprisonment.

In ordering the release of the five men, the federal high court backed the appellate panel's finding in 2005 of a lack of evidence.

Human-rights groups criticized the Supreme Court's ruling.

Reacting to the ruling, Mai called it "a sad day for Pakistani women."

Since the attack, Mai has become a prominent women's-rights activist in Pakistan and drawn praise from the United Nations and international rights groups.